Tag: Vicki Hoak

Left: PA Secretary of Aging Robert Torres (left) poses with several BAYADA nominees Center: Aides and guests from Philadelphia arrive in Harrisburg Right: Secretary Torres announces the Direct Care Worker of the Year!

This year, BAYADA proudly nominated 41 home health aides for
the Pennsylvania Homecare Association’s
(PHA) annual Direct Care Worker (DCW) of the Year Award. This prestigious
award, cosponsored by the Department of Aging, is meant to recognize the state’s
hardworking home health aides and reward an aide that has gone above and beyond
his or her duties.

On March 27, BAYADA’s nominees joined more than 200 other DCWs
from 50 counties across the state in Harrisburg, where nominees and guests
enjoyed a variety of activities and informational sessions during the Direct Care Worker Forum. PHA hosted a
DCW advocacy station that enabled aides to share their voice with legislators.
Guests also enjoyed recipe samples and learned about new activities to try with
clients. The highlight of the opening events was a Dementia Live simulation,
which gave attendees a walk in the lives of clients suffering from Dementia.

Guests were then invited to sit down for the official Awards
program. Each year, PHA recognizes all nominees for the outstanding work they do keeping thousands of older Pennsylvanians and
those with disabilities at home and in their communities. After all
nominations are received, PHA’s selection committee reviews each nominee and
picks one overall winner. As the ceremony began, PHA CEO Vicki Hoak welcomed the attendees with a thank you message from the
nominators for all the wonderful work they’ve done over the past year. Lisa Story, Founder and Executive
Director from the nonprofit Hope Grows spoke on the importance
of caregivers’ self-care. Finally, Acting Secretary
of Aging Robert Torres announced the winner of the year, El Hassania El Bedraoui from Jevs Care at
Home.

Congratulations to all the direct care workers who were nominated for this year’s award. BAYADA
is proud to be involved with a program that demonstrates the state’s commitment
to elevating the direct care worker profession and spotlighting the value of
serving as a professional caregiver. Thank
you to all our home health aides—your compassion and hard work truly exemplify The BAYADA Way.

Recently, Samantha Koehler, policy aide to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging for ranking member U.S. Senator Bob Casey, and Vicki Hoak, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Homecare Association, spent the day in Philadelphia with BAYADA Home Health Care. During her time with us, Samantha spent time learning about the inner workings of our service office and went on two home visits, one to an assistive care state programs client and another to a hospice client.

During Samantha’s visit, we discussed the most recent issues to impact home care in Pennsylvania including the institutional bias that still exists, the challenges with the recent proposal to block grant or institute per-capita caps to Medicaid, and the harmful proposed home health groupings rule.

Samantha loved getting to spend some time with Ms. Lenora E. and her aide Kimyatta J. Ms. E has been a BAYADA client for over a year and gets nine hours of care a day. She is served by the Philadelphia Corporation of Aging (PCA) office. She also met Florence G., a 101-year-old heart patient who can remain at home with her daughter because of the care we deliver. She loves her Clinical Manager Faith Brown almost as much as she loves her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. Grace is served out of the Pennsylvania Media Hospice (PMH) office.